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The destructive force of the 1692 Salta earthquake was measured at IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. It completely destroyed the small village of Talavera del Esteco, in the province of Salta. It caused 13 deaths and injuries as well as significant damage to the city of Salta.[1]

Salteño tradition has it that the number of victims was not higher because the earthquake occurred during the day and that the villagers were able to take measures to prevent greater damage. It is recounted that, in the middle of the chaos of the earthquake, while the houses were shaking and roofs were falling off, that the image of the Immaculate Conception (then called the Virgen del Milagro), then located in the main cathedral, fell some three meters to the ground. Villagers, who had run to the church to pray, saw that the image was not only undamaged from the fall, but that it had fallen at the feet of the image of Christ. The villages interpreted that the image was interceding to Christ on behalf of the village. The following day the villagers paraded the image through the streets. The Salteños began venerating the image and praying for it to stop the earthquake. The tremors continued for two more days.[2][3]

On 8 October 1692 the Salta town council labelled the events of 13–15 September as miraculous. Nuestra Señora del Milagro was appointed "advocate" of the city and 13 September declared a national holiday. On 15 October she was recognized as Patroness and Advocate of Salta.[3] The miraculous events of 13–15 September 1692 was the commencement of what has become the yearly Fiesta del milagro (Feast of the miracle) on 15 September each year.[4][5][6] The celebrations commence with festivities as early as 6 September and continue until the 15th when the images of Christ and the Virgen del Milagro, are paraded through the streets in a grand procession.[3] The Fiesta del milagro is the most popular religious festival in Salta and one of the most important in Argentina.[2]

CONICET archaeologists and other investigators undertook excavations at the site where the city of Esteco II (officially called Nuestra Señora de Talavera de Madrid) was destroyed by the 1692 earthquake. The excavations were done within a 27 square metres (290 sq ft) area. They found a wall and one of the four towers of the fort that protected the city, located in Río Piedras, in the departament of Metán.[4]

1.
Richter magnitude scale
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The Richter magnitude scale assigns a magnitude number to quantify the size of an earthquake. As measured with a seismometer, an earthquake that registers 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times greater than an earthquake that registered 4.0 at the same distance. This means that, for instance, an earthquake of magnitude 5 releases 31.6 times as energy as an earthquake of magnitude 4. In the United States, the Richter scale was succeeded in the 1970s by the moment magnitude scale, the moment magnitude scale is now the scale used by the United States Geological Survey to estimate magnitudes for all modern large earthquakes. Richter derived his earthquake-magnitude scale from the apparent magnitude scale used to measure the brightness of stars and that fixed measure was chosen to avoid negative values for magnitude, given that the slightest earthquakes that could be recorded and located at the time were around magnitude 3.0. The Richter magnitude scale itself has no limit, and contemporary seismometers can register, record. M L was not designed to be applied to data with distances to the hypocenter of the earthquake that were greater than 600 km. Later, to express the size of earthquakes around the planet, Gutenberg and Richter developed a surface wave magnitude scale and these are types of waves that are recorded at teleseismic distances. The two scales were adjusted such that they were consistent with the M L scale and that adjustment succeeded better with the M s scale than with the M b scale. Each scale saturates when the earthquake is greater than magnitude 8.0, because of this, researchers in the 1970s developed the moment magnitude scale. The older magnitude-scales were superseded by methods for calculating the seismic moment, about the origins of the Richter magnitude scale, C. F. Richter said, I found a paper by Professor K. Wadati of Japan in which he compared large earthquakes by plotting the maximum ground motion against distance to the epicenter. I tried a similar procedure for our stations, but the range between the largest and smallest magnitudes seemed unmanageably large, dr. Beno Gutenberg then made the natural suggestion to plot the amplitudes logarithmically. I was lucky, because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil, the particular instrument used would become saturated by strong earthquakes and unable to record high values. The scale was replaced in the 1970s by the moment magnitude scale, for earthquakes adequately measured by the Richter scale, anything above 5 is classified as a risk by the USGS. Several scales have historically described as the Richter scale, especially the local magnitude M L. In addition, the body wave magnitude, m b, a couple of new techniques to measure magnitude are in the development stage by seismologists. All magnitude scales have been designed to give similar results

2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

3.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic

4.
Salta
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Salta is a city located in the Lerma Valley, at 1,152 metres above sea level in the northwest part of Argentina. It is also the name for the city of Salta Province. Along with its area, it has a population of 619,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the Lerma Valley,1,152 metres above sea level, the weather is warm and dry, with annual averages of 756 mm of rainfall and an average temperature of 16.4 °C. January, February and march are the months with greatest rainfall, during the spring, Salta is occasionally plagued by severe, week-long dust storms. Nicknamed Salta la Linda, it has become a major tourist destination due to its old, colonial architecture, tourism friendliness, excellent weather and natural scenery of the valleys westward. Attractions in the city include the 18th century Cabildo, the neo-classical style Cathedral. Salta used to be the point of the Train to the Clouds. The Martín Miguel de Güemes Airport,6 kilometres southwest of the city, has flights to Buenos Aires, Tucumán, Jujuy, Córdoba, Iguazu, Rio de Janeiro. Salta was founded on April 16,1582 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma, the origin of the name Salta is a matter of conjecture, with several theories being advanced to explain it. During the war of independence, the city became a commercial, Salta emerged from the War of Independence politically in disarray and financially bankrupt, a condition that lingered throughout much of the 19th century. Salta has a highland climate, and it is famous in Argentina for having very pleasant weather. Fall brings dry weather, pleasant days at around 22 °C, by winter, the dryness is extreme, with very few rain episodes. Nights are cold at 3 °C on average, but daytime heating allows for high temperatures of 19 °C, snow is rare and frost is quite common, with temperatures reaching down to −7 °C during the coldest nights. Spring brings sunny weather with warm days and cool nights, days range from 25 to 28 °C with nights between 10 to 14 °C, of the over 700 millimetres of rain that Salta receives yearly, over 80% falls between December and March, when thunderstorms occur almost daily. During the rest of the year, blue skies dominate the region, Salta receives 1863 hours of bright sunshine each year or about 5.1 hours per day. The highest recorded temperature was 39.9 °C on November 28,1972 while the lowest recorded temperature was −9.4 °C on August 5,1966, the city centre features a number of buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries. The Plaza is almost completely surrounded by a gallery, within walking distance of the 9th July Square are the Saint Francis Church and the citys three pedestrian streets, Alberdi, Florida and Caseros

5.
Salta Province
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Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, to the north it borders Bolivia and Paraguay and to the west lies Chile. The Atacamas lived in the Puna, and the Wichís, in the Chaco region, the first conquistador to venture into the area was Diego de Almagro in 1535, he was followed by Diego de Rojas. Hernando de Lerma founded San Felipe de Lerma in 1582, following orders of the viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, by 1650, the city had around five hundred inhabitants. An intendency of Salta del Tucumán was created within the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in 1774, San Ramón de La Nueva Orán was founded between Salta and Tarija. In 1783, in recognition of the importance of the city. The battle of Salta in 1813 freed the territory from Spain, gervasio de Posadas created the Province of Salta in 1814, containing the current provinces of Salta, Jujuy, and parts of southern Bolivia and northern Chile. Exploiting internal Argentine conflicts that arose after the Argentine Declaration of Independence, in 1834, Jujuy withdrew from Salta and became a separate province. The borders of Salta were further reduced in 1900, with the loss of Yacuiba to Bolivia. The National Government of Los Andes, constituted from the province in 1902 with a capital at San Antonio de los Cobres, was returned to Salta Province in 1943 as the Department of Los Andes. Antonio Alices painting, La muerte de Güemes, which received a Gold Medal at the Centenary Exposition, is on display at the offices of the Salta Provincial Government. The province is located in the zone and has a warm climate in general. The orientation of the Andes influences the distribution of precipitation within the province, the easternmost parts of the province have a semi-arid climate with a dry winter season. The mean annual temperature and precipitation are 20 °C and 500 millimetres, temperatures can reach up to 47 °C during summers, while they can fall down to −5 °C during winters. The first slopes of the Andes force the moist, easterly winds to rise, provoking very high condensation leading to the formation of clouds that generate copious amounts of rain. The eastern slopes of the mountains receive between 1,000 to 1,500 mm of precipitation a year, although some places receive up to 2,500 mm of precipitation annually owing to orographic precipitation. Most of the precipitation is concentrated in the summer, with winters being dry, the high rainfall on these first slopes creates a thick jungle that extends in a narrow strip along these ranges, creating an area of great species diversity. At higher altitudes on these slopes, the climate is cooler and more humid, with the vegetation consisting of deciduous, between the high altitudes to the east and the low plains to the west lie the valleys

6.
El Tribuno
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El Tribuno is an Argentine newspaper and media group from Salta Province. Widely criticized for its pro-Peronist tilt, it is the newspaper in Salta Province. Founded by Jaime and Ricardo Durán, its initial installations had belonged to La Provincia, released on August 21,1949, El Tribuno was allied to Peronism, and provided a political counterpart to the UCR-leaning El Cívico Intransigente. Following President Peróns 1955 ouster, the paper was shuttered by the new regime, Romero modernized the newspaper, which became one of the first to incorporate offset printing, in 1967. Romero left the post as publisher following his election as governor of Salta in 1983, following the elder Romeros death in 1992, his son, Juan Carlos, became its publisher. His tenure at its helm has been marked by the omission of news unfavorable to local Peronist interests